


Four Times Ben and Leslie Say "Screw It," and One Time They Don't (But Want To)

by kb215



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-28
Updated: 2013-07-28
Packaged: 2017-12-21 15:36:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/901956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kb215/pseuds/kb215
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It might take a while, you know?" Leslie smiled as she pulled away from her husband for just a second. "We might have to say screw it a lot."</p>
<p>Ben smiled as he pushed a blonde curl out of Leslie face. "I'm totally okay with that."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Four Times Ben and Leslie Say "Screw It," and One Time They Don't (But Want To)

She was trying really hard not to be a steamroller. She knew that Ben wanted her to leave him alone. She knew that she had been selfish and ignorant of his requests to back off, and if that was really want he wanted, then she would. She was fairly certain it would kill her, but if he could tell her one more time that he wanted his space, she would figure out a way to give it to him.

"If you don't want to have any more contact with me, I finally understand."

Ben looked up at her from the park bench, and hearing her say those words tore at his heart just like they did every time he told himself this was the way it had to be. "I-I don't want that. Really. But I just think it's for the best."

"Okay," Leslie nodded, fighting so hard to hold back tears that she didn't hear Ben respond okay right back.

This isn't right, Leslie thought. It's taken me so long to find someone like Ben, and now that I have, I'm letting other people make the rules for our relationship.

She watched him stand up to leave, and caught herself wondering when she would be able to see him next. Maybe she would pass him in the hallway on Monday or bump into him next weekend. And then it dawned on her. She couldn't live in a world where those stolen seconds passing each other in a hallway were all they had. She could stand losing her job; she couldn't stand losing Ben.

"There is another option," she said, desperate for Ben to stop walking away.

Ben stopped and turned to look at her, his feelings for her evident by the hurt on his face.

"We could just say screw it, and do this thing for real," Leslie said realizing she should have had the courage to do this from the beginning.

"What?" Ben asked, feeling a small bubble of hope rise up within him that he tried to extinguish before it could let him down. Leslie Knope was standing before him, telling him she was willing to risk losing her job for him. He could feel his heart racing. There's nothing more important to Leslie than her job, he thought, except for maybe me now.

"I miss you like crazy," she began, still fighting back tears. "I think about you all the time. I want to be with you. So let's just say screw it." It was the clearest she had been thinking since she and Ben started dating. Just say screw it, follow her emotions and deal with the fallout, because she could. She could deal with the possibility of being fired and the possibility of scandal surrounding her campaign. She could deal with that as long as Ben was with her.

"No, we would have to tell Chris. It could turn into a scandal."

"Yeah."

"It could hurt your campaign."

"Yes."

"How-How would you imagine that we do this?" Ben asked because as much as he loved the idea, and as much as he wanted to, he couldn't do this knowing that he could potentially be the one to stop Leslie Knope from achieving what she had worked so hard all her life to be a part of.

"I don't know," Leslie admitted because for the first time she didn't have a plan. "But I know how I feel, and I want to be with you," she said as she took a deep breath. She could have gone on to present several valid arguments as to why they should be together, but she stopped. Ben needed to make this decision on his own. "But I'm done steamrolling people. This is how I feel. How do you feel?" She nervously wiped her palms on her red coat as she waited for an answer.

That was all Ben needed to hear. He didn't have the words to tell her how he felt, so he took two steps toward her, wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into him. He kissed her the way he had wanted to kiss her ever since he had given her that Knope 2012 button. It was hurried and frantic, both of them trying to make up for lost time, and neither of them caring who was watching.

Leslie put a hand on Ben's chest and pushed away from him to catch her breath. "So, is that a you'll think about it, then?" Leslie smiled coyly.

"No," Ben smiled. "That was a screw it."

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"Ahhhhh!" Leslie moaned as she gripped Ben's hand and tried to breath through the pain. She pushed her head back into the pillow and tried to think of anything other than the tiny human trying to make it's way out of her va-

"Have you decided on the epidural?" Dr. Casler asked her, interrupting her thoughts.

"We have a natural birth plan," Ben answered, certain that he felt a bone crack from his wife's tightening grip.

"Screw it!" Leslie called out. "Screw the birth plan. I want the drugs."

Ben looked to the doctor who indicated that she'd be waiting in the hallway and turned his attention back to his wife. "Les, you said you wanted-"

"I know what I said!" Leslie exclaimed through gritted teeth. "But I'm pretty sure I wasn't pushing a person out of me when we decided that."

Ben took a deep breath, debating whether to get her the drugs or to try to carry out his promise to her. He took a small step back in case she tried to hit him. "Leslie, you said that if you changed your mind about the epidural that I was supposed to talk you out of it. You even wrote yourself this letter," he said as he pulled it out of his pocket and began reading. "Dear Leslie, this is Leslie-"

Leslie grabbed the paper from him and threw it across the room. She honestly didn't care what they had decided on. She wanted the drugs, so much so, that she didn't care if they came in the form a very big needle going into her back. Bring it on. "I know what the letter says. I wrote it! Now, get the doctor back in here, and tell her to give me the juice."

Ben swallowed nervously, not sure of the repercussions he'd face if he complied with his wife's request. He was all for relieving her pain, but he also knew she could be stubborn. "Are you positive?" he asked one more time.

Leslie grabbed a handful of his shirt and pulled him down to her. "Ben, I love you," she said. "And I know that you're trying to help, but so help me, if you do not go tell Dr. Casler to get me that epidural we will never have sex again. Got it?"

Ben was met with that crazed look in his wife's eyes and knew that she was serious. "Dr. Casler," he called, a fistful of his shirt still in Leslie's hand, which kept him bent over her hospital bed.

"Yes," Dr. Casler replied cheerfully as she reentered the room.

"We've talked," Ben said, still bent over his wife. "We decided to go ahead and say screw it. We're going to go with the epidural."

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leslie laid in the bed in Chris's guestroom and stared at the text message for a second longer before deleting it and tossing the phone aside. She had no idea that Ben was just a few feet away doing the same thing – typing messages and then deleting them when he decided they were trivial or stupid or not really what he wanted to say because he had said everything he wanted to. Mostly. He'd like to tell her how beautiful she looks when she laughs or how irresistible she is when she's talking about politics, but not as much as he really just wanted to finally kiss her. Because he's fairly certain that a kiss would communicate how he feels about her better than any of his words could.

Leslie on the other hand, still had things to say. Chris had interrupted just as Ben had finished spilling his heart to her, and she needed to say something more than "No, it's not just you." She needed to make sure he understood that they could both lose their job because of this. She needed to let him know that she counted the minutes until she could see him, that he was smart and funny, and that even though he liked calzones, she thought they could work through that.

Frustrated, she stood up and began pacing in the small bedroom. She could say screw it, walk the thirty feet past Chris's room, grab Ben off the couch and pull him into the guestroom. They could talk in hushed whispers until they were tired of talking, and then he would finally pull her in for a kiss, or she would pull him in, or they'd both finally be so tired of waiting, they'd just meet in the middle. Either way, it wouldn't matter because she was fairly certain that that kiss would probably be the best thing to ever happen to her.

Outside the door, Ben sat on Chris's couch with his head in hands. Thirty feet, that's all that was separating him and Leslie, well that and a sleeping Chris in the next room, but thanks to their years of traveling around Indiana together, Ben knew that Chris was a sound sleeper. Once Chris Traeger was asleep, there wasn't much that would draw him out of it. So he could do it, then. He could just say screw it, wait fifteen more minutes just to make sure that Chris was really asleep, tiptoe past his room, and barely knock on Leslie's door. She would let him in, and he'd kiss her with every ounce of passion he'd been saving for her. They'd stumble back on the bed, rolling over one another, finally feeling release from the months of built up tension. She'd pull away and say that they needed to talk, that they needed to figure this out, that they could both lose their jobs, and Ben would listen and talk with her, but not before pulling her back in for one more kiss.

He let his frustration get the best of him as he pounded a fist into the leather sofa. No, he thought. I can't do that to Leslie. I'm already risking her job. Doing anything in Chris's house would be irresponsible. He respected her too much to take the chance of being caught.

Leslie heard a soft thud come from somewhere outside the door and quickly jumped back into bed, as though Chris were actually going to check in on her to make sure she was asleep, alone. She sighed heavily as she buried herself under the covers. As much as it killed her, the kiss would have to wait. She reached for her phone and started texting.

Ben felt the phone vibrate from the other end of the couch. Goodnight. We'll talk tomorrow =). L

Ben smiled into the dark of the room. He might not have gotten his kiss tonight, but for Leslie, he would wait however long he needed. Sounds like a plan =). Goodnight. B

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Stop."

"What?" Leslie asked innocently as she continued to pretend to look over the emails that were slowly piling up in her inbox.

"You know what," Ben replied as he shifted on the couch and tried to focus on the donation proposals for Sweetums.

Leslie stretched her legs slightly so that her feet met Ben's in the middle of the couch. "I'm not doing anything," Leslie hummed as she let her toe rub small circles around Ben's ankle.

"You know exactly what you're doing," Ben replied, still trying to focus on the donation applications in front of him. "I have to have this done by tomorrow, okay? Just give me an hour, and I will make it up to you."

"Fine," Leslie agreed as she turned her attention back to her laptop screen, but she couldn't help letting her eyes wonder over the top of the screen and back to Ben who had his brow furrowed in concentration as he looked over the documents in front of him.

"Stop," he said again.

"Stop what?" she asked.

"Undressing me with your eyes," he told her.

"I can't help it if my husband's hot," she smiled coolly.

"Yeah, well, your husband is going to be unemployed if you don't let me finish this," he replied, never lifting his eyes from his work.

Leslie shrugged and continued to type. "That would just mean we'd have more time for other things…"

Ben let out a soft groan. He was fairly certain his wife was trying to kill him. It took all his strength to turn his attention back to the papers covering his keyboard.

Leslie smiled as she continued to work on the email she was typing. She hoped that she and Ben would never grow out of this honeymoon stage where it seemed like they could never get enough of each other. Leslie remembered when working ten hours a day didn't seem like enough for her. Now, with Ben in her company, it was a struggle to work one. She hit send and closed her laptop with a solid click before putting it on the coffee table and standing to walk in the other room.

Almost immediately Ben's laptop dinged at him, indicating that he had new mail. He opened the message and nearly gasped as he read it.

Ben,

I went shopping today and bought a few things I think you might like. I'll be in the bedroom when you're finished working, or when you're ready to say screw it and take a break.

Love,

Leslie

Ben quickly shut his laptop and shoved it aside. "Screw it," Ben smiled as he jumped off the couch and watched the papers fly off his lap and onto the floor. He didn't want to be the one responsible for keeping his wife waiting.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leslie sat at the kitchen table with an array of binders, highlighters, and notepads in front of her.

"I just think this makes the most sense," Leslie continued as she flipped through the documents in front of her.

"Yeah," Ben responded from his post on the opposite side of their table. "I agree."

"Okay," Leslie forced herself to smile. "So, we've got it. Our five-year plan."

"Five years," Ben repeated with the same feign excitement.

Leslie anxiously tapped her pen against the table in an attempt to drown out the silence that hung between her and Ben. This is the way it has to be, she told herself again. Ben's just starting out at Sweetums. I'm going to be running for reelection next year, and hopefully mayor two years after that. It just doesn't make sense to start a family now. "I mean, five years isn't too long, right?"

"1,825 days," Ben said, and Leslie wondered how long ago he had calculated that. He was counting down the days until they could start a family. If Leslie's mental math skills were as fast as Ben's, she would have been counting too.

Leslie flipped the page in her notes to stare at her scribbling some more.

"What about two years?" Ben asked as he cleared his throat.

"Yeah?" Leslie asked as she looked up from her notes.

"Well," Ben said as he pushed his padfolio over to her and scooted closer so he could show her his notes. "That would give me plenty of time to get settled into Sweetums, and you'd be in your second term as city councilwoman. It'd give you a year before the mayoral elections."

"Okay. Yeah. That's better, right?" Leslie asked, trying to talk herself into being excited. Two years was certainly better than five, but it still wasn't the answer she was hoping for.

"730 days," Ben gave her the new countdown.

Leslie sighed, still not fully satisfied with their decision. She wanted a family with Ben, and she didn't want to wait five, or even two years to start it. "We could just say screw it. Just forget about the five-year and the two-year plans and just start a family now," Leslie said in one breath. Leslie saw Ben sit up a little straighter, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly. "I mean, a lot of people have kids without planning for them, right?" Leslie asked. "And it's not like I'm a teen mom or anything, I mean we've both got stable careers, we both love each other. So what if we just said screw it and started trying now?"

"But your reelection," Ben mentioned before he got his hopes up more than they were already.

"We'll make it work," Leslie replied. "Look, I want to start a family with you, and I don't want to wait 730 days to do it – what are you doing?" she asked when she noticed her husband slipping off his shoes and unbuttoning his shirt.

"I'm saying screw it," Ben replied as he shrugged his shirt off his shoulders. "Let's go. Right now. Let's start a family."

"Really?" Leslie asked a little shocked that her husband was willing to jump on board so quickly.

"Really," Ben answered confidently. "I want to a family with you, Leslie. So let's say screw it, and do it now instead of waiting until it looks good on paper."

With that Leslie kicked off her own shoes and fumbled with the buttons on her blouse as Ben's lips clashed into her own. They both continued to shrug off clothing until Leslie felt the cool leather of the couch hit the back of her calves and Ben carefully guided her down until he was straddling her.

"It might take a while, you know?" Leslie smiled as she pulled away from her husband for just a second. "We might have to say screw it a lot."

Ben smiled as he pushed a blonde curl out of Leslie face. "I'm totally okay with that."


End file.
